Alan Sandham

I stand before you
Clean and sober,

No doubt some of you already wishing
...

I've got the viral blues,
Empty supermarket,
Panic-buying,
Out of the fire into pan-frying,
...

...

When I attempt some home repair
I find Incompetence lives there.

He skulks and sulks to my despair,
...

Here's the time for us to sever,
May be for now, may be forever,
Maybe a sad, slow, parting kiss,
Maybe a sibilant serpent hiss;
...

The other day I saw a crow
Swoop at a gull on a neighbour's bin,
Disputing salvage rights, I thought,
Although those rights are rather thin;
...

If I watch a hawk hover,
As she hangs on her wings,
And I wonder at her stilled flight-
Do I distract myself with its meaning
...

The Wanderer in Old Poets' books
Gets more than simple tourist hooks
To illustrate truths that Percy found
On the endurance of the maker's round.
...

There's a thing of which I would speak,
Not in Latin, and not in Greek,
If it can be said at all
It can be plain.
...

My neighbours like to line-dance in the street,
Pre-programmed moves an intricate, co-ordinated, feat
Bespeaking fellow feeling,
Going beyond the urge to meet
...

Young birds in my apple tree,
Pecking at my apples!

Apples that were meant for me,
...

Christmas Day at the Auntie's
All of the family were there,

Plus girlfriends, and boyfriends,
...

The magpies are massing after dark:
I think they mean to take the Park
And banish other birds,
Who seem clearly down by at least two-thirds;
...

When all that can be done's been done,
And all that can be said's been said,
And most of it is clearly gone,
But some of it's inside my head,
...

Two odes were present in a yellowed book,
One, with its well-known parts,
The other, with more subtle arts
Seemed seductive to my unpractised eye,
...

Think of me when I am gone and no longer mangling rhymes,
Think of me in your happy times,
Think of me when you down tools on your farms
And settle into your armchairs' arms,
...

...

Contemplating Nature gives me pause,
One of the many things best done indoors:
A leafy tree moved by a gentle breeze,
Seen through glass when I'm at my ease.
...

There were snakes before me at my water-hole,
The voices of my education said
"A patient poet is a fool -
Sharp elbows! Push before they've paid! "
...

...